Turns All Year Trip Reports(1) Viewing these pages constitutes your acceptance of the Terms of Use.(2) Disclaimer: the accuracy of information here is unknown, use at your own risk.(3) Trip Report monthly boards: only actual trip report starts a new thread.(4) Keep it civil and constructive - that is the norm here.

Summary: Dave Brown and I completed a two-day winter ascent of Mount Rainier via Fuhrer Finger and the upper Nisqually Glacier, enjoying extraordinary late-spring weather and snow conditions. We skied a continuous run of over 10500 vertical feet from the 14411 ft summit down to 3850 ft underneath the Nisqually Bridge, with wind-packed snow and almost no ice at the highest elevations, followed by corn snow below 11500 ft. Unbelievable, and so nice! Was it really January, or June???

Dave carving the wind-packed powder amidst the seracs of the upper Nisqually Glacier, with Mount Adams and Hood in the distance.

Brief Details: We skinned up from Paradise around 11:30am on Saturday, dropped onto the Nisqually Glacier below Panorama Point, and camped on a flat area near 8500 ft at the junction of Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers, digging a bivy trench in the snow during the late afternoon light. We left camp at 7am Sunday (an hour later than planned), summited at 2:25pm and skied down at 2:50pm. Snow conditions for climbing were excellent, with near-perfect styrofoam snow for cramponing up the Finger and then skinnable wind-packed snow from 11500 to 13500 ft on the upper Nisqually Glacier, with crevasses very filled-in and no navigation difficulties. The summit was windy but warm, with a strong 30-40mph SW wind atop Columbia Crest and temps in the low 20s F. Ski conditions were mostly good to excellent, with firm wind-packed snow right from the summit and almost no ice. Pockets of dense powder in spots on the upper Nisqually, followed by a mixture of proto-corn (in the sun) and slightly crusty snow (in the shade) below 11500 ft in the Finger, eventually turning to very nice corn snow below 10000 ft, best on the sunniest aspects only. Skied out to the bridge just before 5pm, as the sun set far down the valley of the Nisqually River. We met and joined a friendly party of five skiers below Nisqually Chute for the last part of the descent, and they gave Dave a ride back up to Paradise to retrieve his car, avoiding any hitchhiking hassles.

Totals for the trip: about 9200 vertical feet of ascent (counting the elevation loss onto the Nisqually) for 10700 vertical of ski descent, with over 10500 of that in a single continuous run off the summit.

Longer report and more photos to follow . . . see below.

The warm glow of success! Fuhrer Finger and Nisqually Glacier in the setting sunlight.

SYNOPSIS...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL REMAIN OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AT LEAST INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. WARM AND DRY AIR ALOFT WILL MAINTAIN A STRONG LOW LEVEL TEMPERATURE INVERSION. THIS WILL ALLOW AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG AND LOW TEMPERATURES TO PERSIST OVER THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS WHILE CLEAR SKIES AND HIGHER TEMPERATURES ARE ON TAP FOR THE COAST AND MOUNTAINS.

In a perfect world, everybody would act with the correct etiquette and follow the rules. Human nature as it is= NOT GOING TO HAPPEN....no matter how many discussion on ski blogs/websites. Face reality............

Way to take advantage of this amazing weather window. Conditions looked pretty good on the upper mountain. How wide was the snow filled slot through the cliff band about half way down the finger? It looked narrow from below.

fuhrer finger is the steepest part of the route, and Fred Beckey calls it 35-40 degrees, but i'm convinced that the crux of the hourglass is more like 45 degrees. the best info i've seen on it is in the cascade alpine guide, though it isn't focused on skiing. if you don't have them already, buy all three. the best porn i've ever bought!

thanks for the link to the tgr tr! in a couple of the pictures i could see alpymarr and i (as small black specks) watching you guys descending the finger, beer in hand! i'll definitely have to ski the entire route next time... if only we'd gotten up earlier... hope to see you two out in the hills sometime.

by the way, by teleboarders, did you mean telemark skiers, or teleboarders? my friends dad invented the teleboard, so i'm curious... peace

by the way, by teleboarders, did you mean telemark skiers, or teleboarders? my friends dad invented the teleboard, so i'm curious... peace

Yeah, we saw you guys down farther on the Wilson when we were descending the Finger. I thought I was just making up lingo when I refered to telemark skiers as teleboarders, so I ment telemark skiers. Sure enough, a google search revealed the true teleboard. I'd love to see someone on the mountain with that!

The weather in the Pacific Northwest has been remarkably bipolar so far this winter. Heavy rain and flooding in early November, then mostly warm and dry through the first part of December, followed by 3 weeks of bitter cold and heavy snowfall down to sea level, and then a major Pineapple Express in early January bringing 10-15" of precip with snow levels rising above 7000 ft. And now an abnormally strong ridge of high pressure persisting for over 10 days, with sunny skies in the mountains and freezing levels soaring to over 13000 ft, while the lowlands huddle cold and dark beneath a foggy inversion. Time to do something BIG . . . something high on the Mountain! South-facing routes on Mount Rainier were likely to be corn after a week of sunshine and high freezing levels, even in January.

The south side of the Mountain from the snow-covered meadows above Paradise.

Dave Brown was thinking the same thing, and we considered two options: climb Gibraltar Ledges and ski down the steep and scary Gib Chute, if it looked filled in and safe enough, or climb and ski Fuhrer Finger. Neither of us had skied the Chute, and I'd only skied the Finger once in brutal snow conditions in June 2007. We scouted both the Finger and Gib Chute through binoculars, with the Finger looking sweet and the Chute looking somewhat dirty, although it did go. We went in to chat with Stefan (the new head climbing ranger) at the Guide House and got some good beta including nice zoomed photos of Gib Chute and Ledges which he had taken on Thursday, when he skied from 11500 ft on the Ingraham Glacier. The Ledges route did not look fully snowcovered, and most likely there would be steep crumbly rock to traverse, so that clinched it: we would head for the Finger!

A zoomed view from Paradise of Fuhrer Finger and the upper Nisqually Glacier.

We skinned up from Paradise around 11:30am on Saturday, then de-skinned and dropped onto the Nisqually Glacier at 6500 ft below Panorama Point, losing perhaps 200 ft in a long traverse. Re-skinned and headed up along the eastern edge of the glacier, following Stefan's lone ski tracks to about 8000 ft. We left the tracks and traversed west above a large icefall and by 2:40pm arrived at a large flat area at 8500 ft where the Nisqually and Wilson Glaciers meet. Clearly it was a massive avalanche debris deposit from the early January extreme avalanche cycle (topped by lots of more recent snow), but things looked very safe higher up the mountain and we had seen no signs of any more recent avalanche activity thus far. Not wanting to climb higher with overnight gear, we planned instead to maximize the length of our ski run with lighter packs, and with 5900 ft still remaining to the summit, we had both a long climb and a long run in store the next day. We dug a 3-4 ft deep bivy trench, big enough to accommodate two people end-to-end plus gear, and settled in to enjoy the early sunset. Even though it was only 4:50pm, it felt more like 8 or 9pm. No tent or bivy sacks, just sleeping bags and pads, made for an occasionally chilly night whenever the wind kicked up.

Dave relaxing in our freshly-dug bivy trench near the western edge of the Nisqually Glacier.

A spectacular sunset, looking south with Mounts Adams, Hood, Jefferson (barely visible), and Saint Helens in the distance.

Climbing the Wilson glacier at dawn, half an hour up from camp, with the same peaks now joined by the moon.

Sunrise, with the sun flattened by refraction due to the strong temperature inversion,which produces layers of air with differing densities.

We planned to head up the next morning around 6am, hoping to reach the summit in 6-7 hours. With overnight temps expected to be over 40 F at this elevation, I took no precautions to protect my hydration bag and was annoyed to find it and its tube mostly frozen in the morning. A half-hour spent warming the tube in hot water managed to fix things, and we finally headed out just before 7am, with dawn already visible to the southeast. The snow was much too firm to skin, so the skis went on the packs. Snow conditions for climbing were excellent, with near-perfect styrofoam snow for cramponing up the Wilson Glacier and the Finger. The route up the Finger was nicely filled-in, with the narrow crux near 10100 ft being a smooth slope of 40-degree snow about 30 ft wide between the rocks. Since the sun was already up, occasional rockfall had begun and numerous pebbles would often come whizzing down the route, especially following stronger gusts of wind. A few larger rocks, up to grapefruit and cantaloupe size, also set their sights on us, but we managed to avoid those without incident. Numerous smaller pebbles did find their mark on our bodies and our bowed (helmeted) heads, including one which left a nasty red spot on Dave's neck.

Looking down the vertiginous upper part of Fuhrer Finger, with Goat Rocks, Adams, and Hood in the distance.(photo by Dave Brown)

Feeling relieved to exit the top of the Finger and its rockfall at 11200 ft, we took a nice break at 9:45am near 11500 ft. We considered options for making our way onto the upper Nisqually Glacier, choosing between a near-level traverse around a steep blind roll, or ascending higher along the edge of Wapowety Cleaver and then traversing east. After a long delay, we choose the upper option, and near 11800 ft traversed right, switching to skis and putting on our harnesses as we neared the first group of seracs, but choosing to stay unroped. The traverse through the seracs was easier than it looked from below, and above that the upper Nisqually was a nearly smooth slope extending all the way to the summit area, with a few visible crevasse sags but nary a difficulty in sight. It was suddenly 11:30am, and we realized that little progress had been made in the last 2 hours, so it was time to push the pace.

Skinning through the narrow band of seracs to gain the upper Nisqually Glacier.(photo by Dave Brown).

Looking across at Dave climbing the upper Nisqually Glacier,with Mount Saint Helens in the distance.

I continued skinning up with ski crampons, while Dave (lacking ski crampons) switched back to booting with foot crampons. We soon crossed a set of crampon-point tracks in the firm snow, which had clearly come up through Nisqually Icefall earlier in the day (congrats to that party!). We were now making good time on the upper Nisqually, about 1000 vertical ft per hour, and the summit drew near despite another brief break near 13000 ft to melt a liter of water with the Jetboil. By 13600 ft, the snow was getting just a bit too firm and steep for efficient progress on skis, so I switched to booting with foot crampons too. The SW winds had been strengthening above 13000 ft, and it was nice to finally reach the shelter of the crater rim just after 2pm, very near the entrance to the steam cave where I had survived a lonely night in May of 2008.

Dave skinning inside the rim of the summit crater.

Long shadows in the summit crater.

After a brief pause, Dave having switched back to skinning, we traversed across to the true summit and stood atop Columbia Crest at 2:25pm. The summit was windy but fairly warm, with a strong 30-40mph SW wind atop the exposed rim and temps in the low 20s F. We saw numerous sets of crampon tracks, but no ski tracks, and all other parties had already descended. It was an awesome feeling to enjoy the solitude of a winter summit of the Mountain.

Dave and I atop Columbia Crest, with Glacier Peak in the distance.

Looking across Liberty Cap towards Seattle and the Olympic Mountains.

We skied down at 2:50pm, ski conditions were mostly good to excellent, with firm wind-packed snow right from the summit and almost no ice. There were pockets of dense powder in spots on the upper Nisqually, followed by a mixture of proto-corn (in the sun) and slightly crusty snow (in the shade) below 11500 ft in the Finger, eventually turning to very nice corn snow below 10000 ft, best on the sunniest aspects only. Despite the somewhat late hour, there was no visible rockfall during our ski descent through the Finger, and snow stability was excellent on even the most softened aspects, with ski penetration limited to less than a few inches and no sluffing. The nice corn snow continued on the Wilson Glacier, as we arced big GS turns back towards camp, although the best (= sunniest and softest) snow was also the most rock-studded and prone to rockfall, along the eastern edge of the glacier.

Dave enjoying some fine smooth snow on the upper Nisqually Glacier.

Me doing the same. (photo by Dave Brown)

Finally hitting the corn in the upper part of Fuhrer Finger. (photo by Dave Brown)

Dave cruising the corn on the lower apron of Fuhrer Finger.

Back at camp, something (probably ravens) had gotten into a small bag of food-wrapper trash which I'd left behind a small block of snow, shredding it and making a modest-size mess. We cleaned up all visible scraps and packed away our sleeping gear, with me obstinately leaving my skis on the whole time, and then headed down the lower Nisqually Glacier just before 4pm,. We followed our ascent route along the eastern edge, which was the sunniest area left as shadows crept steadily across the glacier. Ski conditions stayed mostly corn, although many spots were streaked with dirt and studded with rocks, and shadowed slopes were quickly crusting over. We met a friendly party of five skiers below Nisqually Chute, and after a long chat in the fading sun, joined them for the last part of the descent down the glacier and river valley.

Dave and our five new friends cruising down the lower Nisqually Glacier.

Skiing down past the terminus of the Nisqually Glacier.

Dave and I had considered skiing all the way down to Longmire (as Stefan had done on Thursday), but the additional 1100 vert of descent just didn't seem worth the hassle of the numerous creek crossings and extensive traversing needed to cover the 3 miles of horizontal distance along the riverbed, so we decided to end our run at the bridge. The last part of the run to the bridge below the glacier terminus had good coverage, still several feet of snow, and we followed the route to skier's right of the river, but the route on the opposite bank looked to be in good shape too. We skied out to the bridge just before 5pm, as the sun set far down the valley of the Nisqually River, and the skiers we'd met gave Dave a ride back up to Paradise to retrieve his car, avoiding any hitchhiking hassles.

Skiing out along the right bank of the Nisqually River.

The Nisqually Bridge at last, over 10500 vertical feet below the summit.

It was a fine ending to one of the all-time best days that either of us had ever enjoyed in the mountains. Skiing from the summit of Rainier to the Nisqually Bridge, and skiing over 10000 vertical feet in a continuous run, had been a longstanding dream of mine for at least a dozen years. I always thought it would eventually happen in the late-spring following a big snow season, never imagining that it would come under late-spring conditions in January during one of the most spastic winters in recent memory.

"When I stop having fun I'm turnin' around""Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." - Niels Bohr"If a given person makes it a priority not to die in an avalanche, he or she stands a very good chance of living a long, happy life in the mountains." - Jill Fredston

fuhrer finger is the steepest part of the route, and Fred Beckey calls it 35-40 degrees, but i'm convinced that the crux of the hourglass is more like 45 degrees. the best info i've seen on it is in the cascade alpine guide, though it isn't focused on skiing. if you don't have them already, buy all three. the best porn i've ever bought!

Way to take advantage of this amazing weather window. Conditions looked pretty good on the upper mountain. How wide was the snow filled slot through the cliff band about half way down the finger? It looked narrow from below.

Most of the route through the Finger from 9500 ft to 11500 ft is about 40 degrees, with slightly steeper options available if you ski closer to the edges of the couloir. Above and below those elevations, it's much less steep, more in the 30 degree range on the Wilson and Nisqually Glaciers. That's assuming you follow the upper Nisqually Glacier above 11500 ft and not the edge of Wapowety Cleaver, which has several very steep sidehill sections closer to 50 degrees, even 55 degrees depending on snow conditions, and somewhat exposed above rocky cliffs.

The narrow crux of the Finger near 10100 ft was about 20-30 ft wide this time, nicely filled with snow and not much over 40 degrees. When I'd skied the route in June 2007, the crux had been much narrower (like 15 ft or less) and consisted of solid grey-brown dirty ice, maybe 40-45 degrees steep. Nasty to sidestep down on skis. It's not a good spot to break out the clinometer though, given that it funnels the majority of rockfall in the whole couloir, so my numbers are just guesstimates.

The upper mountain (specifically the upper Nisqually Glacier) was in fantastic shape, with crevasses well covered and no hassles (see the zoomed route photo). Especially for January, which is still early season for crevasse-filling, and also compared to last year, when the glacier was heavily crevassed even during the maximum annual snowpack in early May 2008, and the route getting onto the upper Nisqually was not easy or obvious at all. I would guess that the 10-15" of precip during the recent Pineapple Express fell as 10-15 ft of snow on the upper mountain, filling in the crevasses in a way that never happened during the 2007-2008 season.

Yeah, we saw you guys down farther on the Wilson when we were descending the Finger. I thought I was just making up lingo when I refered to telemark skiers as teleboarders, so I ment telemark skiers. Sure enough, a google search revealed the true teleboard. I'd love to see someone on the mountain with that!

i've still never seen on in real life, either... someday, perhaps!

Quote

Back at camp, something (probably ravens) had gotten into a small bag of food-wrapper trash which I'd left behind a small block of snow, shredding it and making a modest-size mess.

we had the same problem, and it definitely was ravens. alpymarr stashed his food in his bivy. i think i will bury mine in the snow next time...

we had the same problem, and it definitely was ravens. alpymarr stashed his food in his bivy. i think i will bury mine in the snow next time...

Better bury it deep. I was on an RMI winter seminar climb years ago where we buried a bunch of trash and and unneeded gear under at least two feet of snow at our first night's camp spot near McClure. On our return it was all dug out and totally shreaded by the ravens. They're quite resourceful critters.

Logged

"When I stop having fun I'm turnin' around""Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." - Niels Bohr"If a given person makes it a priority not to die in an avalanche, he or she stands a very good chance of living a long, happy life in the mountains." - Jill Fredston

Amar did a straight-line from the summit to the bridge. I couldn't stop him! One of the ice towers provided a great kicker and he launched over the entire icefall. What can I say? He's lucky he landed between towers and not in a crevasse. Actually, we stop consistently to leap frog for photos, check upcoming obstacles, and more often than not, to take a breather! It's not quite a TGR film, but it's not perfect blower on an Alaskan Peak with a heli-ride to the top either!